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What are your favorite vintage speakers?

Not a big vintage speaker fan - But I LOVE the Polk Monitor 7s and truly dig the ADS L810s.

J
 
ESS AMT-3, Rock Monitors. With a small amp like the Sansui 2000 look at high sensitivity, like Klipsch.

Ron-C
 
I love my horns

Seeburg DDS-1 Discoteque speakers Circa 1965 - 1967 very dynamic in a cabinet that looks like it came right out of an Austin Powers movie :banana: also a great and very sturdy resting place for your biggest and baddest gear no matter how heavy these things just don't care and even better still is I do not ever worry about people bumping in to them, I only worry about the potential injury they may receive as a result of an unplanned encounter with one :D
 
Should have moved the wires before snapping pic though. They each weigh about 200 lbs or so, not lightweights to be sure :)
 
Favorite?
McIntosh ML-4
KLH 12, Nine, 5
Bozak Concert Grand, Symphony, 302a
Klisch K'horn, Cornwall, LaScala, Belle, Heresy
Hartley Concert Master
JBL Paragon
Rectilinear III
Quad ESL, ESL-63
Dennison ESL
JansZen Z824HP, Z412HP
AR LST
Possibly Fisher XP-18 (still waiting to get them but look very promising with 18" woofer, 4-way)
 
Thanks for all the great suggestions! So many speakers so little time. Now to convince the wife that my 25+ speakers need some new friends. But I did say I'd get rid of some. Well maybe :naughty: Keep the list going I need alot of ideas. Thanks again.

cubdog
 
devo391 said:
Seeburg DDS-1 Discoteque speakers Circa 1965 - 1967 very dynamic in a cabinet that looks like it came right out of an Austin Powers movie
Click to expand...
Very Cool! :smoke:
I see those are Altec 811 horns in there, are the rest of the innards Altec as well?

Carl
 
The baskets are Utah's and I guess they used a couple of different brands of driver's down below and I have been told that the Utah's are the lessor of the two that were used. They sound great to me and I have no plans on changing a thing except for rotating them 180 degrees to offset any woofer sag, at least I am told that this important considering their age.
 
devo391 said:
Seeburg DDS-1 Discoteque speakers Circa 1965 - 1967 very dynamic in a cabinet that looks like it came right out of an Austin Powers movie :banana: also a great and very sturdy resting place for your biggest and baddest gear no matter how heavy these things just don't care and even better still is I do not ever worry about people bumping in to them, I only worry about the potential injury they may receive as a result of an unplanned encounter with one :D
Click to expand...
GIVE ME THOSE!

Okay, anyway, what else is in them? Where did you get them? And I agree, VERRY cool. Wanna sell?
 
Not for sale today, I can tell you that they are very well built using 1 inch thick MDF throughout. The crossovers I assume to be set at 800 HZ appear to be way overbuilt as well and are among the largest I have ever seen. I have been told that they were used as reinforcement for dance halls and were powered by approximately 50 watt SS amps that were connected to their classic Jukeboxes, they also have a smaller version, the DDS-2 which were the same only smaller wall mounted single woofer units but still used the 811B horn. There is a pair of them installed in Elkhorn, WI at the "Elkhorn Saloon" powered by some SAE gear last time I looked. They are extremely efficient and produce very large amounts of spl with very small amounts of power, I have yet to see my amp exceed 10 watts continuous for any normal listening, someday when I get back in to a house I will find out what they are really capable of. They sound so accurate it is no wonder that both sets I have were found in recording studio's in Chicago. :thmbsp:
 
My vote would deffinately go to the Altec Model 19s.
SPL per watt of power is the reason and the 19s can make some very nice music with very little power.
Klipshorns are a very nice speaker but a bit pricy these days if you can find a good pair. I would also question the repair/replacment availability.
The 19s come to Ebay on occassion and unless they are pristine they usually stay under the $1000 mark. What is really cool is even if they need some work, all the parts and repairs are still very much available.
JBL-L300s are gorgeous and great speakers but again, right up there in price and I think I would be looking for high test equipment like McIntosh to run these fine specimens.
I think the 19s are pretty much bullet proof and can take alot of noise before they puck their guts out.
 
Anybody remember the Infinity Monitor Jr., a three-way bookshelf design of the same dimensions as the JBL L100? I owned a pair for a few years beginning in 1976. They were very good speakers but I think it was too prominent in the midrange. The 12-inch treated woofer could produce some genuinely low bass. Fairly average dome tweeter on top. Good solid construction. I think this is an unsung classic from Infinity. My brother still has a pair.
 
AR-9, JBL L112's, Bose 901 series I & II, CV D-9, Late 70's early 80's Pioneer model that had the glass dome looking thingy on the top under the cover.
 
I've recently picked up a really nice pair of Advent 5002's. They have nice clarity and sound wonderful with jazz not as good with rock. I will keep looking, thanks again for all the suggestions.

cubdog
 
How Big's your Digs

I've got an old set of EV Patrician 800s. Ain't nothing like a set of 18s" in a
5 plus ft. tall 4 ft wide folded horn setup with an old set of DynaCo's for juice.

I spent many happy hours building them in the late 50s. If I'm not mistaken,
the ballpark in Chicago had 10 or so of these monsters for PA. (it did awhile back)

Designed by Paul (his highness) before he went into business.

Plugged into a B3 via a Lesley and you are Jimmy Smith with a smile.
 
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